Weekend at Buffy's
by DougS
Summary: In the aftermath of Joyce's death, Buffy attempts to put her mother's corpse back into her daily routine. Morbid, twisted humor ensues as the Scoobies are forced to confront her. Written after "The Body" but before "Forever."


WEEKEND AT BUFFY'S  
- by DougS  
  
Buffy opened the door and immediately dropped her books on the steps.   
It had been a long day, there was no doubt about that.  
  
"Take the semester off," she repeated to herself, shaking her head.   
"Everybody's all worked up over nothing." She stepped away from the   
stairs, muttering something about "fine", and stepped into the living room.  
  
"Hey mom."  
  
Joyce Summers sat lifelessly on the couch. Her dead stare and conspicuous   
lack of movement seemed not to bother Buffy as she went across the room  
and into the kitchen. She started sorting through the mail, tossing a casual   
glance in Joyce's direction.  
  
"God, what a day. The professors are all trying to tell me to drop out for   
the semester and come back... " She shook her head yet again and sighed.   
"Something about too much stress getting to me. I wish I could just say   
'Hello, kill demons for a living', but I think that'd just get me shipped off to   
a psych ward."  
  
Finished with the mail, she returned to the living room and stood over her   
mother, smiling.  
  
"Anyway, enough about me. How's work?"  
  
Silence. Buffy just kept on smiling.  
  
"You hungry?"  
  
Again, no response. Just the same old stare.  
  
Buffy nodded, answering nothing in particular, and bent down, hoisting Joyce   
over her shoulder. She carried the body over to the dinner table and plopped   
it down in a chair, scooting it in carefully.  
  
"How about soup? Made some last night... I know it's not much, but I'm not   
the gourmet you are, what with your cajun pies and barf food."  
  
She grinned and giggled at her joke, moving back into the kitchen. Moments   
later, she reemerged carrying two bowls. She set one down in front of Joyce,   
and another across from her.  
  
"Dinner is served."  
  
Smiling at her mother, she sat down and prepared to dig in.  
  
A pause. She looked up. Her mom leaned forward slightly. Buffy raised an   
eyebrow.  
  
"Mom? Feeling okay? Looking a little tired, there. Too much slumpiness."  
  
In response, her mother, tipped over towards the table. Her face slammed   
into the soup with a resounding splat.  
  
"Oh! Oh... "  
  
Buffy jumped up and ran for the kitchen. She quickly snatched some paper   
towels and ran back into the room, pulling Joyce up into a sitting position   
once more.  
  
"Oh, god, mom. Maybe you should take a rest, fortify your... fortitude."  
  
She proceeded to wipe her mom's face off with the towels. The doorbell   
rang.  
  
Buffy looked up. Her first instinct was to shout "Come in." Thankfully, by   
now she'd gotten trained into Sunnydale ettiquette. That kind of slip would   
be liable to get a person killed in this town.  
  
"Who is it?"  
  
"Uh, me. Giles," came the response.  
  
"Come in!"  
  
Giles stepped into the house, shutting the door quickly behind him. He   
looked over at Buffy and immediately frowned.  
  
"Uh... Buffy. I really must speak with you."  
  
"What's up?"  
  
Giles shifted his feet awkwardly, desperately trying not to look at the   
corpse at the dinner table. "Well, when you called me about having   
plans with your mother tonight, I was, um, rather concerned."  
  
Buffy nodded.  
  
"We're all set to watch First Wives Club. Dawn's joining too, once   
I pick her up from school. It's a chick flick night." She smiled, looking   
up at Giles. "Why? You want in?"  
  
Giles chuckled nervously before remembering the problem. He looked   
down at his shoes, still trying not to notice.  
  
"No, no thank you. It's just that, I, well... Buffy, this isn't healthy."  
  
Buffy stood up, finished cleaning off her mom.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Well, your mother. It's just that... Buffy... she's dead."  
  
Buffy turned and looked at her mom, smiling lovingly.  
  
"Yeah, she's dead on her feet tonight. Rough day at work I imagine."   
She paused, leaning towards Giles confidentially, whispering. "I think   
she's taking a nap."  
  
Giles shook, his head, exasperated. "No, Buffy, you don't understand.   
I mean, she's quite... deceased."  
  
Buffy scowled. "Shhh!" she chided. "You'll wake her up!"  
  
At last, Giles looked directly at Joyce. He sighed in tired disbelief.  
  
"No, I don't think there's much chance of that."  
  
Buffy went over to the table againd and picked up the bowls, carrying   
them into the kitchen. The sound of the running sink filled the bottom   
floor.  
  
A knock came at the door. Giles rolled his eyes as though thanking the   
heavens, and stepped over to answer it. Swinging it open, he found... Spike.  
  
"Spike," he acknowledged, his disbelief growing.  
  
"Listen. I know what you're gonna say -- 'stay the hell away from my   
slayer' or some such thing, but I--"  
  
"Go away."  
  
Giles slammed the door, turning back to Buffy. The knocking started   
up again.  
  
"I said 'go away'," Giles repeated loudly.  
  
The muffled voice of the vampire persisted. "I just need to know if it's   
true!"  
  
Giles turned and opened the door again, his curiosity mildly piqued.  
  
"If WHAT'S true?"  
  
"About Joyce. I heard some talk about a funeral, and I needed to... " he   
paused, wrinkling his nose. "Oh hell, what's that rancid stench?"  
  
Looking around the inside of the house, his eyes quickly found the source.   
It took all of a second for the shock to hit, his gaze widening.  
  
"OH. MY. BLOODY. GOD."  
  
"Spike," Giles repeated. "Go away."  
  
Spike pointed towards Mrs. Summers, sitting just around the corner at the   
table. He just held his finger out for a moment, not sure how to react.   
Finally, the obvious words came.  
  
"She's dead!"  
  
"Yes," Giles acknowledged. He rubbed his eyes.  
  
"And not just my kind of dead you know. I mean, she's REALLY dead!"  
  
"Yes," Giles nodded. Again, he sighed sadly. "She is about... as dead as   
they come."  
  
"And she's sitting at the table!"  
  
Giles nodded once more.  
  
"Well what's she bloody doing?" Spike asked, still in shock.  
  
"Eating dinner," Giles replied in a low voice, nonchalantly.  
  
Spike turned his shocked glare on Giles now. A moment of silence.   
Resuming his normal pose, Spike shrugged, all shock gone from his   
expression.  
  
"Well, that's it then. You've all finally lost it. Between your hellgods   
and your keys and your... sucky-bitey-fun boyfriends, you're all finally   
off your sodding rocker." He pointed again towards Joyce. "You invited   
a corpse over for SOUP!"  
  
Drained, Giles merely nodded again. "Vegetable beef," he answered   
quietly.  
  
"Well, she's damn well not sipping it!" Spike paused momentarily, an   
idea forming. "Say. Long as she's around, can I-"  
  
"No," Giles stated emphatically.  
  
"Not even a-"  
  
"No." Calming slightly, he once again looked down to his shoes.   
"Besides. She's already been enbalmed."  
  
Spike's face curled into disgust.  
  
"Ugh. GOD. You're welcome to her, then. Can't smell those kinds of   
things from here."  
  
"Please leave."  
  
Spike opened his mouth to say something, but was quickly  
interrupted by a voice from behind him.  
  
"Yo," Xander announced. "Bitey McFang. Outta the way."  
  
Xander, Anya, Willow, and Tara all charged past Spike, stepping into   
the house. Giles quickly moved into position to stand before them,   
blocking their view of Joyce in the next room.  
  
"Okay," Xander began, speaking quietly so as not to disturb Buffy.   
"We're officially on Lysol duty." Everyone brought up two cans --   
one in each hand.  
  
Xander smiled grimly, continuing. "As soon as you've got the uh...   
Mrs. Summers removed from the premises, we'll have this whole   
place smelling like... " He lifted up a can, looking at the label.   
"...a country breeze, in no time."  
  
"Country breeze?" Willow said worriedly. "I got Pine Forest."  
  
"Fresh Violets," Anya announced, holding up a purple can.  
  
"Fine," Xander acknowledged. "A fresh country breeze coming   
from a field of violets into a pine forest, then."  
  
Anya spoke up again. "Have you talked to Buffy about this yet?"  
  
"Well, uh," Giles began, "I've been trying. She hasn't been very...   
receptive."  
  
"How could this have happened?" Tara asked, concerned. "I mean,  
how would she... "  
  
"Buffy's been under a lot of pressure," Giles said. "I mean, her   
mother's tumor, then discovering that her sister isn't real. Then Riley   
left, and soon after that, there was, um... " He glanced towards   
Spike, not saying anything. "And, well, then she found her mother   
dead, and... something in her mind simply gave."  
  
"That's what I'M saying!" Spike blurted out.  
  
The Scoobies turned and looked at Spike as though noticing him for the   
first time. "YOU'RE still here?" Anya questioned.  
  
Spike ignored the question. "Makes you think twice about me, doesn't it?   
I mean, with the slayer out of her bloody gourd, who knows, back   
during that whole thing with Dru - maybe she made it all up. Maybe old   
Spike was right all along. Maybe I'M looking more like the nice guy now,   
right? Yes? Bloody right I am!"  
  
Xander rolled his eyes.  
  
"We don't want any," he declared, slamming the door shut. The   
knocking immediately resumed. Everyone ignored it.  
  
Willow wrinkled her nose suddenly.  
  
"Whoa. I just got that... odor."  
  
Giles finally stepped out of the way. Everyone sombered, seeing Joyce   
sitting at the table.  
  
"Yes, the uh, the body... "  
  
Xander nodded.  
  
"All right gang. Nothing we haven't seen before. This is it. We have come   
to spray Lysol and chew bubblegum... " He shook up his cans of Lysol   
dramatically. "...and we're all outta bubblegum."  
  
The others nodded and the foursome headed over towards Joyce,   
beginning to spray the area thorougly.  
  
Hearing the noise, Buffy came back in.  
  
"What are you all doing?" she demanded.  
  
"Oh, you know," Willow answered calmly. "Just... freshening the place   
up a bit."  
  
Buffy looked offended. "Are you saying that my mother... smells?!"  
  
"Well, honestly, the decomposing members of the population tend to do   
that," Anya stated flatly.  
  
"The WHAT?"  
  
Giles stepped over to Buffy. "Buffy. You must listen to me." Noting the   
tone in his voice, Buffy focused intently on Giles.  
  
Giles nodded, continuing. "Your mother is dead."  
  
Buffy frowned. "No... that's not... "  
  
"Yes." Giles demanded. "Yes it is. You found her body. You saw her in the   
morgue. Soon, we'll attend her funeral. She's gone, Buffy."  
  
Buffy looked hurt. She frowned, like she might cry.  
  
"But... but... we can bring her back, they can always come back, this is   
Sunnydale, everything comes back to life, that's why we have... vampires,   
and zombies, and... "  
  
"Buffy, no. This is what's happened. This is what nature or god or... some   
force, I don't know, this is what is intended. You can't change the past.   
No matter how much we all want to."  
  
Buffy turned to Willow and Tara immediately.  
  
"Willow. You guys, you could do some kind of... necromancing spell,   
right? You could bring her back... "  
  
"That's not really our area," Willow answered.  
  
"Besides," Xander continued. "Is that really want you want? Zombie mom?   
Sure, she could clean up the dishes with an extreme prejudice, but the   
family fun is gonna be lacking the moment she, say, twists your sister's   
head off."  
  
Buffy looked down. Tears formed in her eyes, the loss hitting her all over   
again.  
  
"Then... " she said, finally. "This is the way it is. This is the way it has to be."   
A pause. "This IS happening... "  
  
She fell to the ground, sobbing heavily with realization. Everyone stopped   
and rushed to her side, comforting her.  



End file.
